The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-08-03
The Subsidy as a Weapon.

As preparation for an appeal to the next
Congress the American Shipping and Indus.
trial League have put forth bill whisS.
the opinion of those best acquai y. ,5 Iii, az
lamentable state into whic. - ,,so,a,,o,,.;io
lice T,.s Ian :. IA afford substantial re-
.ras...as AXE one that Senator Frye in
~ "a in Congress some time ago, provides
at there shall be paid by the government
to any steam or sailing vessel, built and
owned wholly in the United States, engaged
in the foreign trade, the sum of thirty cents
per registered ton for any distance travelled
less than one thousand miles on any voyage
between this and any foreign country. This
rate Of bounty would be continued for ten
years, and thereafter for another term of
nine years at reduction of three cents per
ton In other words, this bill provides for
an extensive system of bounties to American
ship owners, system which has many enc
mics in Congress and in the country. To a
large class of statesmen in this country, as
well as to large portion of the people
the word bounty has hateful significance,
as implying in their minds fayoritisn by
which few may profit at the expense of the
many. The remedy which these men pre-
scribe for the recovery OF our commercial SUI
premacy is the passage of a bill that would
allow Americans to purchase ships abroad.
In other words, free ship bill. The states
men who favor the policy of subsidies come
principally from sea coast communities,
where foreign commerce has been the bust
ness Of the people for generations; the men
who want free ships are generally from far
inland aNuAuanpffiao hot Ia,
sea-natives of the prairies of Arkansas or
the uplands of Alabama. The remedy of
the one class of statesmen is practical, of the
other theoretical. OF the theoretical remedy,
championed by Mr.. Dunn, Of Arkansas, we
care to hear little in Maine. There is no
doubt that, should the free ship bill pass,
the days Of shipbuilding in Maine would be
over at once. The study of the details of the
practical remedy and the reasons for it is, on
the other hand, an investigation of unvary-
ing interest. American shipping has gradu-
ally declined until now it's asserted by those
who are best acquainted with the subject
that the foreign trade tonnage on the Attain
tic coast is less than it was in 1910. Yet in
1850 the United States was the great COM
mon carrier of the earth In the ship
yards of New York were turned out enor-
nous steamers, so much finer than any to be
found in the royal navies Of Europe, that
Golden, the great English free trader, de-
clared in Parliament that the American
smerchantile marine alone would be more
than match for any war navy that exists
on the continent of Europe" In those days
there were 2,1SS American shipyards busy
with the labors of over twenty-one thousand
mechanics. All along the Atlantic coast the
industry flourished. Maine was turning out
ships from Kittery to EastpOrt. To-day there
isnot a square-rigged vessel building in the
State. The civil war and the competition of
the cheap laborers of the British shipyards
have swept our carrying trade away, and
put England's in its place. The problem
now is: How may our carrying trade be
restored? Vice President Snow, of the
American Shipping League, declares that
this can be done ''only by making the for
eign carrying trade profitable" Free ships,
he says, would be no remedy inasmuch as
what now remains of our merchant marine
is for sale at prices below those of foreign
countries. 80 OF course, under such circum-
stances, IL would be no relief to give to the
American ship owner the right TO purchase
ships in Europe. The plan of the American
Shipping League is to make the carving
ing trade profitable; the only practical way
to do this is by subsidy, as will appear
from glance at the methods employed by
other governments for encouraging their
mercantile marine. In the commerce of the
ocean there is no fair competition In their
efforts to extend their trade all the great
maritime nations but the United States have
adopted the system of subsidies. England
in the last forty years has subsidized her
mercantile marine to the extent of two hun
bred million dollars The substituting of
some line of steamers that will extend Brit
ish commerce to some new quarter of the
globe is part of the work of the present
Parliament, and has been of nearly every re-
cent Parliament. France has an elaborate
system Of bounties Construction bountes,
amounting to S11.5S a ton for iron and steel
vessels S772 for composite vessels, 1886 for
wooden ships of over 200 tons, and S1.93 for
vessels OF less than 200 tons. ara given as
soon as the vessels are launched. For every